"He was always so jovial. We'd get to school and go right to the band room, where we enjoyed listening to music with 'Mr. D,' " she said.
Mark Goldberg, now a patent attorney in Des Plaines, Ill., played clarinet in the band from 1968 to 1971.
"He was greatly admired, and his classes weren't a competition for grades. They were simply enjoyable," said Mr. Goldberg. "He inspired us to play well and sound good, and all of the students respected and admired him."
That respect and admiration led to a 50th reunion in 2003 of former band members who celebrated Mr. Dombrowski's arrival at Bel Air High School.
"They got about 100 people from the 1950s through the 1980s to come," Mr. Goldberg said. "And it was the push I needed to start playing the clarinet again. I had stopped about 20 years ago."
Mr. Dombrowski also conducted the Bel Air High School Alumni Band at a concert that was part of the Bel Air Summer Concert Series.
"They came from 19 states and several foreign countries," said his wife of 52 years, the former Esther Everitt, who retired as Bel Air High's librarian in 1984.
Marytherese Streett, who taught English, history and art at the high school, is a longtime friend of the Dombrowskis.
"Even the parents and families of the kids came to the concert. I remember one band member from West Virginia couldn't play because her dog had bitten her lip, but her parents came anyway," Mrs. Streett said.
"The students always loved him. He was the top of the line, and there's no doubt about that," she said.
There was another reunion concert in 2006. Another was planned for this year but had to be canceled because of Mr. Dombrowski's failing health.
He and his wife were named Harford Living Treasures by the Harford County Council in 2002.
Since 1983, when he joined the musicians' union, Mr. Dombrowski worked as a freelance musician, performing with bands, marching groups, combos, symphony orchestras and as a solo strolling violinist.
Mr. Dombrowski was active in Polish cultural organizations and had been a member of the Polish Legion of American Veterans. He established a post of the organization in Baltimore in 1998.
For the past eight years, the Baltimore post has hosted the annual March commemoration of Polish patriot Casimir Pulaski's birthday. He also participated in the annual Polish Festival and the October observance of Pulaski Day.
He was a member of both the Harford County Veterans Commission and the Maryland Veterans Commission.
Mr. Dombrowski was a communicant of St. Margaret Roman Catholic Church, 141 Hickory Ave., Bel Air, where a Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 9:30 a.m. today.
Also surviving are a brother, Andrew "Bis" Dombrowski of Joppa; and five nephews.
